25 Years of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

[joe19 | 26]

Hey everyone, 10 years ago I made a thread on NA celebrating 15 years of Ocarina of Time. Now that the game is celebrating its 25^th anniversary I figured it was a good time to finally make my first post here and share some pics of my collection that I’ve amassed in over a decade of collecting. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but with the collection always being in a state of flux, it never seemed like a good time. However, after “investors” had a little group huddle and decided to crank up prices by 5x overnight, my collection has mostly stagnated over the past 2-3 years, so it feels like this is about as big as it’ll get. I’ve got a bunch of OoT3D stuff too, but I’ve decided to stick with original OoT for this post. Also, I realized after taking the pics that I missed a few items but it’s mostly player’s guides and CDs.

I thought it would be fun to pick out a few items that are particularly interesting and showcase them individually over time to avoid making a single gigantic TLDR post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please use this thread to share your own interesting items, anecdotes, or anything else OoT-related.

(Empty) Case of Collector’s Edition OoT

Basically from day 1 of collecting, my grail item has been a sealed case of OoT CE. Back then (and all the way up until about 2020), mint copies sold for around 1K, so I figured 50K for a case of 24 copies should be a “safe” maximum offer to make should one ever come up for sale (even though I didn’t actually have the money). I never actually expected to find one (even an empty one), so I was shocked when I saw this case available in an excruciatingly long 10 day auction on eBay. I figured maybe I could get the next best thing to my dream item by filling it up with individually acquired mint copies over time. Of course, with prices where they are, the 50K bounty is nowhere near enough to acquire a full case so the dream is gone, but I did manage to snag some sealed copies individually over the years. When people ask me what my favorite corrugated brown cardboard box is, I definitely mention this one.

Sealed Games

Vertical seam, overlapping seam, no back seam, big vent holes, small vent holes, Collector’s Edition, standard edition, player’s choice edition, Canadian version... so many variants to collect. Never managed to get them all, but the ones I did get are in nice shape. Still, I would’ve liked to have found a Canadian version. I think most sealed collectors are aware of the seal variants, but I think the Canadian variants are less known. Since the boxes are identical (afaik), you wouldn’t even know you had a Canadian version unless you weighed it. Since the Canadian versions came with a second manual with French instructions, they would have a detectable increase in weight. Thus, this version offers the most grams of Zelda per dollar.

I actually got a sealed standard release from Amazon, of all places. They used to allow sellers to post photos of items that were advertised as New. They unfortunately got rid of that feature; I guess they figured if it’s new, then there’s no need to show condition. For a time I would just ask sellers to send pics of games via email, but the success rate of games being in decent condition was so low that it just wasn’t worth it.

I know some people don’t understand sealed game collecting, so I’ll just share my own perspective. One thing that initially got me into collecting was missing the feeling of walking into a game store and seeing N64 games on the shelves. Very quickly after I started collecting, I started buying CiB games to get a bit of that experience before realizing that sealed was the closest you could get to reliving the excitement of seeing/getting a new game. They’re basically a time capsule that takes you back to 1998 without the need for a sword-operated time machine.

 

Edit to add more pics/details:

6 Ft Tall Standee

I had to jump through quite a few hoops to get this sword standee. It once belonged to a giant (for him it was regular sized), and I had to get him some eyedrops from a scientist in an annoyingly long process involving a frog, mushrooms and a blue chicken named Cojiro that restores faith in humanity. As you can see, the handle is broken, presumably from attempting to swing it around like a real sword.

I also have a small shelf-talker version with this same design, as can be seen in the photos. I know of at least one other size (in between these two) that was available plus some other items that used this same art, but never managed to get a hold of them. Some kind of unbeatable running man type character always got there first.

 

Mask of Truth

This is a fan-made item from a woman in Italy, a land full of skilled mask makers. She originally made one as a commission for someone and posted a photo of it. I’m not typically a fan of fan-made art, but this was just too incredible. I don’t think she could’ve done a better job. It felt criminally underpriced given the quality, attention to detail, and offering the ability to hear rocks. Looks like the sale page is still up: https://www.deviantart.com/majorasmasks/art/Legend-of-Zelda-Mask-of-Truth-OoT-COMMISSION-268859624.

Edit #2:

Flaming Logo Shirt

Normally 90’s Zelda tees are super cheesy, but this one has some of the coolest OoT art ever – I don’t know why they didn’t use it more often. It’s definitely a reference to the title screen of the game where the logo is in flames, though it’s unclear if this was concept art for the game, or if it came after the game. The tee is relatively rare, though it does pop up from time to time. Oddly they always seem to come from Canada, though I’m not sure if this was a Canada exclusive or if that’s just coincidental. There was actually one other item (I think it was a poster) I once saw with this same artwork that sadly got away from me and I never saw another one again – IIRC that was also from Canada. I thought I saved photos of it and/or the listing somewhere but can’t find them. I tried recreating one by taking a poster with the regular logo and applying my own flames to it, but after a stern lecture from the fire department I found out it doesn’t work that way.

Edit #3:

NFR Carts

I believe these were used to demo the game in stores. Sometimes the name of the store is written on the sticker on the back. I’ve heard that stores were supposed to give these back to Nintendo, but many would mysteriously disappear and end up for sale many years later. Some other NFR games were legitimately demo versions (such as the grey Majora’s Mask NFR cart or the OoT 3D NFR card), which would have some timer or other limitation to prevent players from playing too long, but not OoT – you could play until they dragged you out of the store past frightened onlookers waiting their turn. The only difference between these and the standard carts is the sticker on the back and the altered front label in the case of the grey cart. The gold one is a bit harder to find, but I managed to get one through an NA auction (that’s right, forum auctions were once used for more than just mystery boxes). Interestingly my grey cart has a nice cologne scent to it, though I’m unable to confirm if all NFR carts have this feature (maybe one day scratch ‘n’ sniff labels will be a thing...).

Edit #4:

Big Poster

I’m not too sure where this was used, but judging by its size and rarity, I’d say it was used for in-store advertising. I wasn’t originally going to showcase this item individually since the artwork is pretty commonly seen in OoT advertising materials. However, while rolling it back up after taking the group photos I noticed something odd about it. There are some faint lines shown in the artwork, which I had previously noticed and just assumed they were part of the background, but they actually seem to be emanating from Ganondorf’s eyes. I checked the other item I have with this art (the translite sign in the bottom left of the group photo), and he definitely doesn’t have laser eyes in that one. I guess the artist decided to have a bit of fun with this one.

 

Edit #5:

Right Handed Link Tee

The seller of this item pointed out that he ordered this from the Nintendo Power supplies catalog purely because Link was (mistakenly) shown to be right handed. I’ve gotta hand it to him that that was a pretty good observation to make way back in ‘98. However, he noticed that in the following release of the catalog, they corrected the shirt to make Link left handed. He even included the catalogs when shipping the shirt (Spring and Summer 1998). For one brief moment (prior to the Wii at least), Link was officially a plain boring non-creative thinking righty like most of us.

Edit #6:

Soundtracks

I think good music is crucial to a game’s longevity. Even after completing OoT, I never really stopped listening to its soundtrack, which kept me tied to the game during those years in between playthroughs. I even tried learning to play a few of the songs but had to stop after accidentally teleporting to the middle of a volcano a couple times. I could never write music good enough to change the weather and turn night into day. The best mine could ever do is summon a French scarecrow named Pierre. Every Zelda release after OoT (and MM, which had comparably good music) I would eagerly await the soundtrack only to be disappointed. I don’t think there will ever be another one like this.

Edited December 3, 2023 by joe19

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

1998 was all about the fever pitch of excitement leading up to Ocarina and Metal Gear Solid being released.  My mother actually took me into Wal-Mart that November and said I could pick out one console for Christmas that year.

On one hand, the PS1 had MGS, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve and Xenogears and a bunch of other Square games.

But N64 had Ocarina.

I went with the N64.

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

1998 was all about the fever pitch of excitement leading up to Ocarina and Metal Gear Solid being released.  My mother actually took me into Wal-Mart that November and said I could pick out one console for Christmas that year.

On one hand, the PS1 had MGS, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve and Xenogears and a bunch of other Square games.

But N64 had Ocarina.

I went with the N64.

PlayStation sucks!

[DarkTone | 984]

Nice collection. Havent played the game yet. 

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

3 minutes ago, DarkTone said:

Nice collection. Havent played the game yet. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

26 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Sometimes I want to do a game of the month club, and make people play some of the artform's standard-bearers.  You know it would flop though 

[RH | 4,903]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did those shipping boxes go for?  The small cases as well as the big one.

I think stuff like that is super awesome. I actually tried to buy a case of something like 150 F1 Racing cartridges that were in a case shipped from the NOJ manufacturing facility to a facility in the UK for packing in the boxes and other items.  They guy had 3x cases,  but refused to sell.

Why did I want that?  Well I had no need for it but simply saying you owned a case of a game like that seemed impressive since I was/am a GB collector.

[RH | 4,903]

3 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Sometimes I want to do a game of the month club, and make people play some of the artform's standard-bearers.  You know it would flop though 

Lol... and guess what.  I DID start Final Fantasy 6 about a month ago and I'm about half way to my usual "give it up" point.  I really, really hope to push through that before the end of the year to make my 2023 Gaming Goal but... we'll see.

[The Count | 527]

I love OOT. I remember getting the standard gray version and MGS2 on the same day from Funcoland. It's a shame OP isn't much of a collector though.

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

42 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Sometimes I want to do a game of the month club, and make people play some of the artform's standard-bearers.  You know it would flop though 

It would just be @Glovesevery week “Never played it”

[Estil | 1,265]

It can't seriously already be 25 years...and I can't believe Nintendo's not doing anything(?) to mark the occassion?

[Estil | 1,265]

2 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

PlayStation sucks!

This coming from someone with MegaMan X as their avatar!  For the 5th gen, MegaMan is (mostly) a PS1 exclusive.  All you get on the N64 is a port of MegaMan Legends.  And that's why way back when I got a PSOne (first ever non-Nintendo console) back in my college days around 2001 or so.

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

31 minutes ago, Estil said:

This coming from someone with MegaMan X as their avatar!  For the 5th gen, MegaMan is (mostly) a PS1 exclusive.  All you get on the N64 is a port of MegaMan Legends.  And that's why way back when I got a PSOne (first ever non-Nintendo console) back in my college days around 2001 or so.

It’s a 16 bit sprite from SNES hahahahaa

[jrmrbcax | 62]

OoT is the greatest game ever made. Beat it twice in the past month along with Master Quest for the first time!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

It can't seriously already be 25 years...and I can't believe Nintendo's not doing anything(?) to mark the occassion?

They celebrated by releasing a game that took 6 years to make 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

That vinyl banner is another level.

[Gloves | 11,779]

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

It would just be @Glovesevery week “Never played it”

Hey man, I play video games! 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

It can't seriously already be 25 years...and I can't believe Nintendo's not doing anything(?) to mark the occassion?

They did release a pretty huge Zelda title. Easily the biggest one they ever released. 

[joe19 | 26]

2 hours ago, RH said:

If you don't mind me asking, how much did those shipping boxes go for?  The small cases as well as the big one.

I think stuff like that is super awesome. I actually tried to buy a case of something like 150 F1 Racing cartridges that were in a case shipped from the NOJ manufacturing facility to a facility in the UK for packing in the boxes and other items.  They guy had 3x cases,  but refused to sell

I got them a while ago, but iirc the auction, which included both the outer box and all four internal boxes, ended at around 200-ish.

Got the right-handed Link tee (will post more about that one later) from the same seller who was definitely one of the most memorable sellers I've bought from. Said he was buying everything OoT-related he could get his hands on when it came out. He noticed this empty box on his way out of the store and asked an employee if he could have it.

[Gloves | 11,779]

6 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

1998 was all about the fever pitch of excitement leading up to Ocarina and Metal Gear Solid being released.  My mother actually took me into Wal-Mart that November and said I could pick out one console for Christmas that year.

On one hand, the PS1 had MGS, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve and Xenogears and a bunch of other Square games.

But N64 had Ocarina.

I went with the N64.

Ouch. 

[Laseki | 128]

OoT will always be my fav Zelda, despite it aging poorly in some aspects.

I dont have that level of nostalgia for too many games but the lead up to release really was a special time for it, my oldest brother bought it on release day and we didn't even have an N64 til christmas, we would just read the manual CONSTANTLY for a month lol

I don't think there has been a game that felt like it had so many mysteries to it, i didnt have the internet and neither did my friends so we all went wild with speculation on the secrets it could have had, seems like the time of that happening with games is LONG past, no more mysteries, just look it up online and get spoiled before the games even out now lol

Closest any game has come to that is Elden ring in recent memory.

Very happy to still have that exact cart with our original saves on it to this day.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Laseki

[joe19 | 26]

51 minutes ago, Laseki said:

OoT will always be my fav Zelda, despite it aging poorly in some aspects.

I dont have that level of nostalgia for too many games but the lead up to release really was a special time for it, my oldest brother bought it on release day and we didn't even have an N64 til christmas, we would just read the manual CONSTANTLY for a month lol

I don't think there has been a game that felt like it had so many mysteries to it, i didnt have the internet and neither did my friends so we all went wild with speculation on the secrets it could have had, seems like the time of that happening with games is LONG past, no more mysteries, just look it up online and get spoiled before the games even out now lol

Closest any game has come to that is Elden ring in recent memory.

Very happy to still have that exact cart with our original saves on it to this day.

That was my experience too. I had some Zelda book that I read nonstop before Christmas, and also didn't have internet so relied on playground speculation for information. No other game in my lifetime came close to this one in terms of sheer volume of chatter at school. It seemed like everyone got it for Christmas that year.

[Gentlegamer | 174]

[Gentlegamer | 174]

8 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

1998 was all about the fever pitch of excitement leading up to Ocarina and Metal Gear Solid being released. 

*ahem*

Half-Life

https://www.half-life.com/en/halflife25

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

1 minute ago, Gentlegamer said:

*ahem*

Half-Life

https://www.half-life.com/en/halflife25

I think the thing to take away from all this is that 1998 was an absolutely incredible year for gaming as a whole. Multiple groundbreaking titles all released back-to-back-to-back.